Mini-Purim Treats

Make your Purim pop with a bouquet of mini-treats.

With Purim around the corner we are all busy getting ready with our preparations for this super fun holiday! I have always loved to bake, and for me, one of the best parts of Purim was preparing the Mishloach manot – gifts of food for friends and family. This year, we’re making mini versions of some of my favorite treats for Mishloach Manot. I put nearly all of the ‘pops’ on sticks, creating a bouquet of mini treats…YUM!! I was surprised by how easy the transition was from full-size to bite-size. With the fruits and pastries being mini, you won’t feel guilty trying them all. If you “stick” with the mini theme, your Mishloach manot is sure to “POP”!

On a lightly floured surface, roll a puff pastry sheet to approximately 1/16”. Using a small fluted cookie cutter (approximately 2” in diameter), cut circles out leaving as little space as possible in between each cut. Take a single circle of dough and using a thin “paint” brush, brush a line of egg around the edge of the circle. Place a cookie stick on the dough and brush a little egg on the stick by the edge of the dough. Spoon a small amount of apple filling into the middle of the dough on top of the stick in the center.

Take another circle of dough. Using a small paring knife, make four small venting slits in the dough. Place the circle over the filling and gently press the edges of the circle to seal. Place on prepared cookie sheets. Repeat with remaining dough. Brush each pie pop with beaten egg. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake for 12 – 15 minutes (rotating after 8 minutes if necessary) until golden brown. (For more information about this recipe go to www.koshereveryday.com).

Key Lime, Lemon, Cherry, or
Apple Mini Apple Pie Pops

Basic Pie Dough

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon sugar

1 stick cold margarine, cut into small pieces

2-4 tablespoons ice water

Process the flour, salt and sugar in a food processor. Add the margarine and process until the ingredients resemble a coarse meal. Add the water and process until a dough ball forms. Remove from the processor, wrap in plastic, press into a disk, then refrigerate for at least 60 minutes.

Prepare your favorite pie dough recipe (or use the above recipe). Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Repeat the instructions for the Apple Puff Pie Pops, however for the Key Lime and Lemon varieties do not sprinkle with turbinado sugar. After baking sprinkle with powdered sugar (optional).

Mini Hamentashen Pops

Prepare your favorite hamentash recipe. Roll out dough and cut out 2 ½ inch circles. Place a cookie stick a dough circle. Top with a ½ teaspoon of your favorite filling. Seal the hamentash as you normally would with the stick sealed in one of the corners. Make sure to press the seams tightly so the filling doesn’t ooze out of the stick section of the hamentash. Bake according to recipe instructions.

Apricot Flower Pops

24 premium dried apricots

24 6 inch cookie sticks

Colored chocolate, melted

Using a sharp kitchen scissors, snip 1/3 of the way through an apricot. Repeat with an additional 4 or 5 cuts, being careful not to cut all the way through the apricot. Gently place the cookie stick into the apricot (note: In order to remove the pit the manufacturer left a slit in the bottom of the apricot. You can place the stick in that slit). Place the melted chocolate in a decorating or small ziplock bag. Cut a very small hole in the bottom of the bag and dot the chocolate in the center of the apricot. Repeat with the remaining apricots. Place the apricots in the refrigerator to set the chocolate.

Chocolate Covered Mango Leaf Pops

1 package dried mango pieces

1 cup best quality chocolate chips

1 tablespoon shortening

6 inch cookie sticks

Line a baking sheet with wax or parchment paper. Set aside.

In a small bowl or measuring cup, melt the chocolate chips and shortening. Stir until smooth. Take a cookie stick and dip it in the chocolate, around 1 ½ inches up the stick. Place it on the prepared baking sheet. Dip a piece of dried mango in the chocolate, covering ¾ of the pointed end of the mango. Place the dipped mango on the chocolate dipped portion of the cookie stick. Repeat with remaining dried mango pieces. Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator until the chocolate has set.

Meringue Flower Pops

These beautiful treats were previously posted in the Pesach 2012 article: Mainly Meringues

These gorgeous flowers are simple to make once you know the easy preparation tricks. These are great for Passover and are beautiful year-round treats!

Notes:

By melting the sugar in the egg whites over the double boiler you avoid having the meringues “weep”.

In rare instances, the meringues aren’t completely dry and easy to remove from the parchment paper after the second hour. If this happens, return to a 250° F, or 225° F convection oven for 30 minutes. Turn off the oven and allow the meringues to cool for an additional 15 minutes. Repeat until meringues are completely dry.

You can also use this method to pasteurize your egg whites for other egg white based dessert recipes. Make sure the egg whites are hot before removing them from the double boiler. This ensures that any bacteria in the whites is eliminated.

4 large egg whites, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

36 round jelly beans, or colored chocolate lentils

Additional Tools:

Large mixing bowl with whisk attachment

Electric mixer

Hand held whisk

Large heat proof spatula

Large pot for double boiler – large enough to have the mixing bowl sit comfortably on top but not touch the simmering water in the pot.

Cookie sheets

Parchment paper

Decorating bag, or large Ziplock bag

Preheat oven to 250° F, or 225° F convection.

Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

Fill the pot around 1/3 of the way with water. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and keep the water simmering.

In the large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and granulated sugar together with the hand held whisk until well blended. Place mixing bowl over the simmering water, making sure that the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl. Gently whisk until all the sugar is dissolved (you can feel it with your fingers) and the whites are very warm. Remove from the double boiler and beat the whites on high speed until stiff peaks form being careful not to overbeat and dry out the whites.

To make the flowers:

Use a #12 or #10 decorating tip, or snip a ¼ inch hole in the bottom of the decorating bag. Fill the bag half way with the meringue, twisting to seal the top. Pipe the flowers onto to the prepared cookie sheets - for each flower, pipe 5 large “dots” in a circle, sweeping them into the center to form the petals of the meringue flower. Place a round jelly bean or lentil in the center of the flower. Bake for 60 minutes. Do not remove from the oven. Turn off the oven (and oven light) and allow the meringue flowers to remain in the oven for an additional hour to further dry. Remove from oven. Transfer to an airtight container – do not refrigerate.

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About the Author

Sharon Matten lives in Chicago and is a Freelance Pastry Chef, Kosher Food Writer & Blogger, Cable TV guest Chef, Wilton Cake Instructor, Cookbook Contributing Editor, Electrical Engineer, Wife & Mom (not in order of importance!). She writes the weekly www.koshereveryday.com blog about cooking kosher with a family and busy life – pictures and recipes included! To get more great recipes, and to find out more information about Sharon Matten go to www.koshereveryday.com.

Visitor Comments: 4

(2)
A,
February 25, 2013 10:16 PM

great ideas! I'll try for Pesach the meringue flowers pops!

תודה!

Sharon Matten,
April 22, 2013 10:48 PM

Thanks!

(1)
Dassie,
February 17, 2013 12:55 PM

Thanks!

I love meringues and am always looking for new ideas for them. I wish I'd seen your frog meringues in time for the appropriate parsha! The flowers look lovely and yummy. Thanks for the great ideas. Hatzlacha rabba.

Sharon Matten,
February 17, 2013 4:15 PM

Thanks Dassie

Thanks Dassie!! There's always Pesach :-) !! Sharon

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